Investigators try to unravel Floor Space Index fraud in Bombay

Land is always fodder for scandal, especially in a city like Bombay where all land is at a hefty premium. But even by Bombay's inflated yardstick the fiddle that is taking place is colossal.

The racket centres on the Floor Space Index (FSI), the magic ratio that decides the built-up area for a given lot of land; obviously, by quietly tacking on a figure to the area of a plot registered in the official records, the builder can construct much more on the same area.

That is precisely the fraud that investigators are trying to unravel. At least 1,450 plot figures for Bombay and its suburbs' are said to have been manipulated in this manner to construct crores worth of extra building space.

The extent of the fraud is enormous. The key cadastral survey register of the Surveyor and Land Records Department of the Bombay collector's office - a cadastral survey register lists the extent, the value and the ownership of a plot of land for purposes of taxation - gives the area of Survey No. 242 in the Tardeo Revenue Division as 18,544 sq yards. The plot actually measures only 13,544 sq yards, the fraudulent increase being of the order of 5,000 sq yards.

The FSI for the area is 1.33 and the additional built-up area made available because of the illegal increase in the plot size works out to 74,700 sq ft. With real estate prices in the prime city area anywhere from Rs 800 to Rs 1,500 a sq ft, this means that Rs 7.5 crore worth of building have been added on - and all with the simple change of figure in the records.

The fraud ranges from something as low as 50 sq yards - Survey No. 133, Malabar Hill - to the incredible 7,948 sq yards discovered for Survey No. 1/306 in the Tardeo area. The owners of the plots range from individuals to the Bombay Municipal Corporation; even the President of India figures in the affair, because the India Government Mint listed as Survey No 399 acquired an increase of 16.17 sq yards in its plot, resulting in an increase in the built-up area of 241.58 sq ft.

Huge Investigation: Not surprisingly, this massive operation has set off something of a bureaucratic riot in Bombay's corridors of power. Although the Government has made out that only a few stray cases of manipulation are involved, a top secret circular from the Revenue Ministry to the collector's office, the Urban Land Ceiling (ULC) office and the Bombay Suburban District Office conveys exactly the opposite: the concerned officers have been asked to sift through all cases where building applications have been sought in the last five years. This is to help the police Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) which is unable to handle the huge investigation on its own.

Complicating matters is the fact that a number of authorities are involved. First, there is the Surveyor and Land Records Department of the Bombay collector's office, which maintains land records in the city of Bombay known as the island city, up to Mahim Creek. So far, 43 cases of prima facie manipulation have been referred from here to the ACB.

Secondly, the Bombay Suburban District Office deals with land in the suburbs beyond Mahim Creek; this comes under an additional collector who in his turn reports to the director of records and settlement commissioner for Maharashtra based in Pune. This office has uncovered 1,405 cases where areas of plots have been tampered with.

Finally, the ULC office, under a separate additional collector, often comes into the picture because whenever permission is required for building a certificate from here is necessary, saying that the owner's total vacant land does not exceed the land ceiling limit. This office also keeps a record of the plots.

The investigation has been going on for nearly a year now and the size of the task can be estimated from the fact that the Bombay collector's Survey Department alone takes care of some 31,900 properties whose records are being checked under the microscope.

Even so, Bombay Collector Arun Bhatia felt it was time that prosecution began and asked his men to register at different police stations cases of land record forgery where the fudging in figures has indeed resulted in the actual construction of extra built-up area.

In a curious development, however, four concerned police stations - Gamdevi, Tardeo, Byculla and Pydhonie - where 12 complaints were to be lodged have so far not registered the FIRs. Police Commissioner Julio Ribeiro denies any special design or conspiracy in the matter. He goes on to add: "Since forgery is a time-consuming matter maybe somebody at the stations felt lethargic. I wish the collector could have informed me personally. I will investigate the matter."

Any other kind of action taken regarding a fraud that runs into crores of rupees does not amount to very much in relative terms. In the collector's office two senior surveyors were suspended last February by the then collector Manmohan Singh, after prima facie fiddles in Tardeo and Byculla came to light. P.D. Haval, superintendent of the survey office was also suspended.

No action has been taken against any employee of the suburban office so far because the investigators are hampered by the fact that much relevant information has simply disappeared. Demarcation files, Cadastral Survey (CS) plans, applications for CS extracts, which would have revealed the names of surveyors and superintendents who had cleared the changed areas are untraceable.

A building said to have benefited from the inflated figures

Out of the 43 cases in the Bombay collector's office, relevant documents are totally missing in at least 11 and partially in 15 others. In 10 cases, while the CS register indicates that plot figures have been tampered with, there is now evidence that CS extracts, necessary for obtaining permission to build from the Municipal Corporation, were applied for by the builder.

But permission has definitely been granted in some cases - however, the extract duplicates which would have revealed the names of the surveyor and the superintendent are missing.

That is not all. Survey No. 224 in Byculla and Survey No. 267 in Malabar Hill, the demarcation register shows that though a copy of the demarcation plans was applied for, the actual files have disappeared.

The register gives the names of the surveyors responsible for these two demarcations - which have resulted in additions of an excess built-up area of 14,940 sq ft and 1,939.62 sq ft respectively - as Desai and Kojwalker. Both are still working in the same department.

Transfer Tussle: What is more, the investigation is finding road blocks in its path. In August last year, Bhatia decided to transfer Senior Surveyor K.G. Raut and Superintending Surveyor H.N. Naik to the ULC in the interest of the investigation; two of the collector's surveyors are working there on deputation.

The additional collector, however, refused to accept Raut and Naik and return the two surveyors saying that the ULC office was on a "time-bound programme until December 15", and could not afford to return the surveyors.

The transfers of Raut and Naik caused a veritable maelstrom, with the entire Revenue Department at the Secretariat demanding that the two surveyors be transferred back to the collector's office. Bhatia refused to succumb even when pressure began to mount, and finally K.G. Paranjpe, secretary, revenue and forest, personally passed an order on November 9, returning Raut and Naik to the collector's office.

Interestingly, one of the original people who the ULC office said could not be relieved until December 15 had been on long leave since October 14 so his services could hardly have been so desperately required.

Curious Case: Another intriguing point is the extent of the involvement of some employees of the municipal corporation. A builder requires the permission of the corporation's Building Department and since the corporation has its own file stating the plot's original size, corporation officers must have been aware of sudden increases.

Municipal Commissioner D.M. Sukthankar says that his men did notice discrepancies in some instances but adds that "we cannot sit in judgement on the collector's figures since in land records they are the final competent authority".

He says, however, that he did issue a circular telling municipal staff not to take the collector's figures for granted; says he: "If there was any nexus between the corporation and the collector's office it is difficult to prove legally, since legally the responsibility rests squarely with the land records department.''

The investigators are, understandably, keeping quiet on the inquiries. Additional Commissioner of Police Gyanchand Verma of the ACB will only say: "We are investigating the cases but to reveal anything at this stage will hinder detection work."

The ACB has more fiddles on its hands. It has been discovered that several of the older CS maps have been tampered with the additions made in red. The maps are periodically updated by the surveyors and one of their uses is to date the age of the building.

Obviously, by irregularly getting an inclusion in an earlier map a house owner can benefit because legal right to land ensures after 12 years of occupancy on private land and 60 years on government land. The collector has now started another inquiry of the map fiddle. But it will be a long time before all the threads of the puzzle are sorted out. The plot thickens.

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